The 52-year-old Herndon told PEOPLE
that he's in a longterm relationship with a man whom he simply
referred to as Matt.

“I was 10, sitting in church and
horrified that I might be a homosexual,” Herndon said. “Whatever
that word meant, I knew that I probably was one. And I know there's
a lot of those kids still out there. Telling my story is an
opportunity to help just one of them.”

“They can be loved by God, they can
be married one day, they can have a family, they can give their
parents grandkids.”

“And they're not broken, they're not
sinners and they're perfectly beautiful,” he added.

Herndon said that both of his ex-wives
knew about his sexuality.

“I have made a lot of mistakes in my
life. They've been my mistakes, and I own them. I've done a lot of
work around forgiveness with people that I've hurt and people I've
not been honest with because of my sexuality,” he said.

In 2010, Chely Wright became the first
country music artist to come out gay. Wright and Herndon are close
friends.